The biking debate started last spring, when school district officials told Kaddo Marino that Adam was violating school rules by biking to class. Walking to the school also is not permitted.
Kaddo Marino challenged the policy and asked the school board to change it. The district charged a committee to review the rule, which was instituted in 1994.
(Emphasis mine. This foolishness has been going on for 15 years!)
When Emily's elementary school had welcomed a new principal, the new principal, to win the hearts and souls of her new charges, immediately implemented a zero tolerance policy on talking during lunch. The kids were required to eat in stony faced silence until they were through and then out they went where talking could re-commence. The reason? Apparently in the Principal's past, she once worked in a school where a student choked during lunch and no one could hear her cries because of the talking. I'm unclear about the outcome - Lord, let's hope the child didn't die - but, come on. How rare is that? Yeah, I know, even one death or bad incident is too many, but the solution seemed hardly to be one of complete silence throughout the meal. During the first parent meeting when she was introduced, the principal choked up telling her story but, relaxed her rule until it was closer to what it had been before: a reasonable level of noise was allowable but the cafeteria monitors had the right to shut things down should they get out of hand.
Anyway, absurd school rules.
Let's keep the kids safe. But let them live their lives. Walking and biking to school isn't risk-free but nothing is and this kind of tradition builds responsibilities and fond memories.
(Blog title from a Beatles lyric.)
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Imagine the massive carbon footprint caused by busing nearly every US child to school.
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